Patience Or Success Now For Spurs – Was Gareth Bale The Moment It Changed For Levy & Spending

The other day I did a piece about the growing emergence of Argentine youngster Juan Foyth.

The 20-year-old former Estudiantes centre-half has had to be patient under compatriot Mauricio Pochettino following his £8million capture, but he did rack up eight appearances in 2017/18 as he adjusted to the club, but the turn of November in 2018/19 saw him make his Premier League breakthrough.

It was a mixed performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers as he did concede two penalties in the game to give them real hope of a fightback, but Poch kept faith with him and he provided the perfect response against Crystal Palace, bagging the winner on the day and he has been rewarded this international break with his maiden senior international cap.

I happened to mention ‘patience’ was sometimes required as an alternative to big money transfer spending given the modern game and it garnered some interesting responses.

—–

Jod

For some of our fans it’s not really about the players you buy, it’s just about spending money. It’s like a football version of a shopaholic, a psychological need to spend. It’s why they are always moaning about not signing men with no names rather than real players. The idea you can develop your own players who are as good or better than anything you can afford to buy is something they just don’t want to hear.

block d spurs

What we need to remember, until Poch arrived, as Levy mentioned with AVB…”to take us in a different direction” Spurs have traditionally been buying established star type players, Hoddle being the main exception. It’s what most of the fans have grown up with through the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. So the move to homegrown players is now showing good returns on the investments. The first was Bale who arrived as 19 yr old developed (by Harry !!) and left for £86m…Harry Kane (worth about £180m), Winks, Dele, (another one who came as a £5m 19 yr old now worth £120m or so. Now we have Foyth, Oliver, and others (Marcus Edwards..).

IMO Bale was the turning point for Levy, and since then the homegrown method has now proven Levy and Poch were right to move away from the Harry Redknapp method of buying older players on long term expensive contracts, for the immediate results and protection of relegation. So indeed patience has proven it’s worth it.

While a lot of fans feel frustrated in being left behind by trophy/title winning Arsenal, Man Utd, City, we had to build new club infrastructures like the training ground, stadium (costing hundreds of £’m to be able to compete financially with these clubs).

Patience will be rewarded soon. COYS

Hot Tottingham

They say patience is a virtue. But, football fans in general, tend not to be particularly virtuous types it would seem.

Earlier in the season, Spurs lost 3 matches on the trot. It was the first and (still) only time that Pochettino’s Tottenham had done so and we are into his 5th season. I subsequently read “Poch Out!” posts on VS and other outlets. And half-hearted debates on who should replace him when he (ironically as a failure) disappears off to Real Madrid…anyone for Jose M?

This, of course, wasn’t just a lack of patience simply due to his entire (trophy-less) time at Spurs but a reaction based on where we would likely end up in this season itself, given those early losses and poor showing. Worse off, of course! Guaranteed failure!

Funnily, we currently find ourselves in the position of having our best ever PL start in spite of those early, 3-on-the-trot results. And now with yet more MP trained players getting International call-ups on the back of it all.

This brings me to the fans that also lack any kind of patience at all with our players…Sanchez was called too expensive before he’d even played for us (even though we apparently should always be spending so much more). Aurier was also too expensive and bound to be nothing but a liability. Lucas was not good enough for the PL after just a handful of appearances. Sissoko will never come good. Foyth was (is) too young, inexperienced and not ‘man enough’.

These kinds of things are often said as though they should be seen as definitive statements and, not just how I often see them, as cynical (Spursy-like) speculation, kneejerk reactions or just downright negativity, seemingly for the sake of it. He won’t, he can’t, Spurs will never…blah blah!

I remember Bale was a curse. Modric was too lightweight. Kane is nothing but a Championship player! And so it goes…

Then, of course, it became; “How on earth can Levy even contemplate selling the likes of Bale and Modric.” Or, “How on earth do we hold on to a player like Harry if Levy won’t pay him Messi (or Bale) like wages and Lewis don’t fork out the millions to ‘buy’ him and the team a trophy or two! Ad nuaseum…

Juan Foyth’s first match could have broken the lad’s self-confidence, it didn’t. He came back stronger, both for club and for country. MOTM strong. hard to come back better than that. I’m enthused. I’m on the bandwagon for this one. One needs errors to grow, and the biggest questions concern how one responds to one’s errors. This lad looks good. Hope it’s not an illusion, and I believe at this point it’s not. He looks a keeper (and I don’t mean a GK lol). Put him on a bit of weight training and he’ll be great.

PompeyYid

People (most) learn by their mistakes, it’s as simple as that, as Foyth is proving.

On the other hand, a few Spurs fans never learn, and they are mostly the newer kind of “Spurs” fan, the majority of the old hand “Spurs” fans do have the patience. COYS

One Reply to “Patience Or Success Now For Spurs – Was Gareth Bale The Moment It Changed For Levy & Spending”

What surprises me is that more fans are not raging over the destruction of league teams by the plethora of first team players being, used up, injured or driven out of form by the constant barrage of totally meaningless international games, friendlies and tournaments ; all designed to fill the pockets of FA executives. Nearly December, dozens of teams and players still paying costs imposed by the World Cup and still the pointless, meaningless, valueless international matches continue. International teams should be restricted to players over 32 years of age. That way the Football Association executives could continue their feeding frenzy, fans woud recognize the “International” players and these aging stars might squieeze an extra season or two out of their careers and both the leagues, and the promising careers of up and coming young people would not need to be compromised or destroyed.